25 Years After 9/11, America Has Forgot
On the drive to JFK Airport in June 2001, my eight-year-old self had no idea that I was seeing the Manhattan skyline in its 20th-century form for the final time. Three months later, I was living in St. Paul, Minnesota, and my dad woke me up on a warm September morning and told me that America was under attack.
Like millions of Americans, I remembered exactly where I was on 9/11. In the aftermath, our nation rallied around a simple promise: “Never forget.” I took those words to heart. For the past 25 years, I have devoted countless hours of research to 9/11 and the War on Terror. That passion led me to eventually start a YouTube channel dedicated to educating others about that tragic day and the events that followed.
But 25 years later, I fear that while America may still remember that September morning, we are forgetting what it meant.
In the aftermath of 9/11, many Americans remember the surge in patriotism and the sense of unity that swept across the country. Political differences temporarily took a back seat to the well-being of our loved ones, community, and nation. We wanted justice for the 2,977 innocent people who were murdered, and we stood together in the belief that terrorism could not prevail.
Currently, our political divisions are so deep that the unity seen after 9/11 seems like a lifetime ago. Those divisions have allowed extremism to be promoted and tolerated when it comes from our own political side.
After the October 7 attacks, many Americans expressed sympathy toward the Palestinian people. Some people have also expressed sympathy toward Hamas, a terrorist organization that targets civilians.
The erosion of the memory of 9/11 became evident when a 2002 letter written by Osama bin Laden to justify the attacks circulated on TikTok in late 2023. Some social media users praised the former Al-Qaeda leader’s rhetoric. I never thought I would need to say this in a post-9/11 America, but Osama bin Laden was a mass murderer, not a freedom fighter.
Unfortunately, the romanticization or justification of 9/11 is not confined to anonymous social media users. Far-left influencer Hasan Piker has previously stated that America deserved 9/11. In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani faced scrutiny over a photograph with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj has made past statements supporting jihad against America.
If the lesson of 9/11 is that we should reject the glorification of terrorism regardless of our political affiliations, then Republicans cannot be given a pass either.
In late 2025, President Trump invited new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to the White House. Before he became president of Syria, al-Sharaa was a member of Al-Qaeda and its predecessor organizations. Trump has also pursued a closer relationship with Saudi Arabia despite longstanding investigations into Saudi-linked individuals and institutions and their alleged connections to the 9/11 hijackers.
To me, that is the most troubling part of where America finds itself 25 years later. The erosion of 9/11’s meaning is not just confined to one political party, or corner of American society. It can be found on the far left, far right, and everywhere in between.
“Never forget” was never supposed to mean just where we were that morning. It was a call for Americans to remember the dangers of hatred and extremism in our society. By continuing to ignore the lessons of 9/11, our nation is doomed to repeat those mistakes, and the consequences could be worse the next time.
Twenty-five years later, perhaps the greatest way we can honor those we lost is to finally take “Never Forget” seriously.
